I’m reading a Substack page by Donald Jeffries. He says, “My old industry, Information Technology, is being taken over by H-1B Visa workers, mostly from India.”

     That’s something that everybody knows, but it made me realize that “information technology” has been reduced to “I.T.” in everybody’s vocabulary. The IT Department is devoting to maintaining the machines and software connecting the company to the internet.

     The “information” part has been leached out. The IT Department makes sure your message gets sent. It has nothing to do with the info in the message.

     I’ve met a lot of web designers who have little interest in communicating the information about their clients. They’re either hard-core tech geeks or graphic designers interested focused on colors and shapes. The information is whatever they’re handed by the client.

     I’ve been trying to insert myself into the mix as the guy who assembles the information into a coherent sequence.

     Most people have nothing to say. Most companies have nothing to say and their websites prove it. They declare their passion for something, and then never mention it again. If they do say something, they couch it in passive abstractions. It’s safer that way.                                  

     That’s why it’s so easy for me to write effective marketing blab even for companies with highly technical products: after I interview them and discover what it is that they want to say, all I have to do is re-cast their info into normal easy English, and then it’s easy for people to read it.

     And the truth of their brag shines through.